Pincher faction, while Mr. William Pitt Scully strongly supported
the Macabaw party.

It was Mr. Scully's intention to deliver an impromptu speech upon
the occasion of the election, and he and his faithful Perkins
prepared it between them: for the latter gentleman had wisely kept
his uncle's counsel and his own and Mr. Scully was quite ignorant of
the conspiracy that was brooding. Indeed, so artfully had that
young Machiavel of a Perkins conducted himself, that when asked by
his patron whether he had given up his place in the Tape and Sealing
Wax Office, he replied that "he HAD tendered his resignation," but
did not say one word about having recalled it.

"You were right, my boy, quite right," said Mr. Scully. "A man of
uncompromising principles should make no compromise." And herewith
he sat down and wrote off a couple of letters, one to Mr. Hawksby,
telling him that the place in the Sealing-Wax Office was, as he had
reason to know, vacant; and the other to his nephew, stating that it
was to be his. "Under the rose, my dear Bob," added Mr. Scully, "it
will cost you five hundred pounds; but you cannot invest your money
better."

It is needless to state that the affair was to be conducted "with
the strictest secresy and honour," and that the money was to pass
through Mr. Scully's hands.

While, however, the great Pincher and Macabaw question was yet
undecided, an event occurred to Mr. Scully, which had a great
influence upon his after-life. A second grand banquet was given at
the Earl of Mantrap's: Lady Mantrap requested him to conduct Lady